A pop a day keeps boredom away!

Today’s pop is kind of a cheat/placeholder. Since I had to thaw the Zoku yesterday, I had to wait until 9 pm today to make a new pop. But that’s when the State of the Union started, so tonight’s pop needed to be quick and easy so I could watch it.

So, having planned a strawberry cheesecake pop, I punted. Instead of making a cheesecake base, I used instant pudding mix for the base. Then I added a few things:

cheesecake pudding mix, graham crackers, milk and frozen strawberries

Yesterday’s lesson was fresh in my mind as I assembled these pops. I erred on the side of using more milk to thin out the base and keep it from sticking to the molds. I used 4 ounces of prepared pudding and 3 ounces of milk. I ended up with leftover base, but at least my pops didn’t stick!

As with yesterday, the role of “crust” in my ice pop was played by crushed graham crackers. I decided to try something a little different today, though. Instead of just putting the cracker crumbs into the pops, I decided to see if I could roll the finished pops in the crumbs.

The last detail was the strawberries. I decided to use whole slices “glued” to the sides of the pops, rather than trying to distribute chunks or puree throughout the pops. The reason was simple — the slices looked so pretty!

I used a butter knife to slide the strawberry slices into the molds. I wish I’d been able to use more of them, but I had to leave room in the molds for the sticks.

The finished pops looked really nice:

An appetizing lineup.

The pop I tried to cover with graham cracker crumbs is in the middle. As you can see, the crumbs didn’t stick so well, even after I wet the pop down with a little water.

Still, these pops were pleasant. I’ll bet they’ll be even better when I get around to making “real” cheesecake.